The Lessons To Be Learned from Godzilla Minus One

Godzilla Minus One is one of the best movies of 2023. On paper, Toho's latest Godzilla entry should be little more than an entertaining, two hours of destruction, but it is much more. Minus One offers lessons to both sides of the Blockbuster vs. Cinema debate. In this video, I explore what those lessons are.
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#godzilla #godzillaminusone

[@MikeMJPMUNCH]

This was the first Godzilla film I've seen where I was actually scared of Godzilla and I think that came down to liking the characters so much which made me fearful for their safety whenever Godzilla showed up.

[@ryuusaki7309]

So GOJiRA the black and white movie didn’t make u feel that way or shin?

[@Keizer125]

@@ryuusaki7309 I think he meant of the 21st century of godzilla films and also the characters from shin godzilla were never indanger whatsoever

[@MellowMutant]

Same

[@Gold_Lightan]

​​@@ryuusaki7309the problem with Shin, the characters were never there while Godzilla destroying the city. Also the character development was nowhere near as compelling as Minus One, also Shin was a big let down after the first half. Shin torched the city in flames at night was the best, but soon after it all felt rushed afterwards, and a big drop off on VFX, almost like they ran out of money to finish the film.

[@MikeMJPMUNCH]

@@ryuusaki7309 I haven't seen either of those but I will check them out thanks for recommendation

[@javiercastillo6786]

i watched it with my mom today, she's seen the godzilla i watched as kid and she said no godzilla movie ( or movie) in general has made her feel like this since the titanic

[@gokhanersan8561]

Minus One has become one of the greats for me. I can’t stop thinking about its intellectual beauty.

[@ericmatthews8497]

And for me, it's now the most overrated film in movie history.

[@gokhanersan8561]

@@ericmatthews8497 Where do you stand on Heath Ledger’s Joker vs Bruce Glover’s Mr Wint? Just want to figure out what kind of ground we are standing on.

[@ericmatthews8497]

@@gokhanersan8561 Diamonds are Forever isn't exactly my favorite Sean Connery Bond Film. Where as The Dark Knight is arguably the best Batman film. But I don't know what you're gonna make of that - so have fun. Handicap systems are great to allow players of different skill levels or performance factors to compete against each other. They are great for golf and sail boats. But for films do they really make sense? Where we overlook some cheesy melodrama, inconsistent special effects, and choppy editing, from smaller studios and declare their best effort a "Masterpiece?" All the while panning better films just because they come from "Woke Hollywood?" I'm sorry, but I don't have to buy this crap.

[@gokhanersan8561]

@@ericmatthews8497 How about “I am Sam” vs. “Simple Jack” vs Heath Ledger’s Joker vs. Michel Foucault vs Gilles Deleauze?

[@ericmatthews8497]

@@gokhanersan8561 Ugh... enough.

[@Rockstar-bq5fm]

I honestly think this is a brilliant point. This is my movie of the year, and my film of last year was Top Gun Maverick and I think what both movies have in common is They both have characters we like and care about We are invested in their personal problems and feelings And we fear the threat that they had to face. Same could be said for another brilliant movie like Puss in Boots the last Wish In a time when originality is very hard to come by (mainly because we have near enough told every story we can possibly tell now) It’s all down to execution.

[@KlingonCaptain]

Top Gun: Maverick was only last year? It feels like three years ago...

[@Rockstar-bq5fm]

@@KlingonCaptain: to be fair it was advertised back in 2020 but lockdown pushed it forward

[@MellowMutant]

Well said

[@vinny142]

Top Gun is a bit of a weird mention here because it's success is mostly because of nostalgia, Tom Cruise, and very, *very* good CGI (they used stuntplanes to film the movement and CGI'ed the desired fighterjets over them) Also: do you really care about the characters or do you have warm comforting nostalgia for the first movie? Because the latter is why studio's want to do remakes so much; if you liked the first movie you are going to appreciate the new one a lot more by default and they don't have to do that much work actually making it good.

[@Rockstar-bq5fm]

@@vinny142: tend to disagree but that’s just me, it builds off the first movie a lot, most definitely but you’re still invested in the story and personal drama being told itself. The first film was really a music video (a fantastic music video like haha) Exploring father/son relationships, guilt and fear over friends death and responsibility. Had the love story with Connelly and even though it very much had a Hollywood ending. Seeing Rooster and Mav and the team on the mission was exhilarating and I certainly cared enough about them to see them come back alive. I don’t know general consensus but I’d of thought most people would of thought Top Gun Maverick as the better movie of the two

[@Komainu959]

People harp on tropes. But tropes are a thing precisely because they WORK. It's a matter of how that trope is used and how well it is executed. Minus one isn't great because it breaks new ground. It's great because it executes the idea's and plot points it sets gloriously.

[@bestbrothereverchoso3305]

Just watched it yesterday, probably my favorite movie in a long time. Like, it’s up there with Puss In Boots the last wish for me. That ending was too beautiful 📿🙏🗿

[@ericmatthews8497]

Yea.. until you think about it. Noriko could not have been more than a few yards away from Koichi suffering in the ruble. But he was too grief stricken to even be bothered to look for her. It's the kind of plot you see in a cartoon.

[@jamesbrice6619]

​@@ericmatthews8497Haw! What a load! 😂

[@ericmatthews8497]

@@jamesbrice6619 Noriko’s inexplicable survival of a nuclear blast was cheap melodrama. Maybe in Godzilla Minus Two we’ll find out that she is actually a robot.

[@PlasticOmnipotence]

​@ericmatthews8497 Did you even bother to actually watch this film?? The mark on Noriko's neck at the end of the film is from her absorbing some of Godzilla's regenerative ability. That is how she survived. And it's a topic Yamazaki wants to explore if he's allowed to make a sequel. Quit blabbering and PAY ATTENTION when you watch a movie. smh

[@ericmatthews8497]

@@PlasticOmnipotence Oh yea.. That is such a compelling human story. Because that is so common in today's world to absorb regenerative energy from a giant mutated lizard after an atomic blast from his mouth. Come on... just stop already!! And my problem wasn't with Noriko surviving.. it was Koichi not even bothering to look for her. It's the plot complexity you find in movies for children.

[@Psyclonus7]

There is no listed budget for Minus One. The director has said it wasn't near that in an interview at Tokyo Comic-Con.

[@tikhongilson3770]

I bet that Japanese movie actors get paid much less than US movie stars. Hence, a lower budget.

[@jamesbarbour8400]

Supposedly it cost 15 Million Dollars to make !

[@darias8573]

Could you do one episode on 'they shoot horses, don't they?' 1969. I'd love your take on it.😊 Happy holidays!

[@JJvdV]

could you make a video about The Thin Red Line? you make such interesting video and i think this movie fits right in your alley. And its a Masterpiece

[@NathanMarchandAuthor]

This is the most interesting take I’ve heard on the film. Great work! I host a podcast about kaiju and tokusatsu called The Monster Island Film Vault.

[@codiejcollins]

Warner is just a distributor.. Legendary makes the movies! But yes definitely agree 🤘🏽

[@omniframe8612]

5:46 i firmly believe Babylon should’ve just been about Brad Pitt’s character experiencing the fall the Hollywood and subsequently himself and the ending would have played out the same. But i guess there are multiple films and directions in a film that large

[@elskeletor3566]

You seem to forgot to mention sound of freedom.

[@vinny142]

So... you start off saying that maybe we should not be looking for originality in movies, and then you go on to explain how the movie you like is actually quite original. The jarring thing to take away from this is that apparently the ability to tell a story well is now a lost art. This is especially true for the MCU ofcourse, who started off good but then ran out of steam and just started to add more and more superheroes into their story in an effort to have something that was never seen before, culminating in endgame which literally ended the interesting side of the MCU and now they are just making as many movies as they can because on hit will pay for ten flops. Studio's are either too scared to take a risk on something original, or they are too stupid to see that just creating more of the same is not going to get bums in seats.

[@troubadour723]

I lament the loss of novelty in our world. The tragedy of this century is our inability to escape the last century, like a child unable to let go of a security blanket. My fondest wish for the new year would be for those under 25 to begin to inject some maturity into our world, in everything. Their elders certainly refuse to be the adults in the room.

[@imahoare4742]

>expecting zoomers and Gen Alpha to be mature while making fortnite fart compilations and among us twerk memes Good luck man.

[@freeman7577]

@@imahoare4742they are also the most depressed generation too lmao. We are doomed

[@benquinneyiii7941]

Superfortress Lincoln Mitchell Corsair

[@oranmccann2476]

I thought it was brilliant. I had a smile on my face everytime Godzilla appeared

[@ericmatthews8497]

All the best Godzilla Special FX were in the trailers and TV spots. It was very bait and switch.

[@jamesbrice6619]

Youre wrong. The CGI in Godzilla minus one is FAR superior to the American films

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

even dumb blockbusters used to be better. superhero movies in particular are a fundamentally terrible genre, because outside of origin stories, superheroes fail to pass for people, so they make terrible protagonists. even the transformers series is better than superhero movies simply by making the superheroes supporting characters, while the protagonists are humans. the best marvel movies, at least of the last 15 years or so, are the guardians of the galaxy movies because, broadly speaking, the protagonists are not superheroes (I draw the line at james bond). I haven't noticed a change with TV shows, but movies have gotten really noticeably worse. the bulk that used to be ok is now bad, and the few that used to be good are now almost all just ok. to me, it feels like hollywood lost its groove with covid and has for whatever reason yet to get it back. when I browse my piracy sites of choice now, I hardly ever discover an appealing new movie. they all seem uninspired and dull, and if I look into it further or watch the movie, the impression is confirmed. another thing I find remarkable besides how bad superhero movies are is the hype around bad movies that are long and supposedly grand, but are actually terrible at being movies. specifically oppenheimer and dune I found to be not merely undeserving of hype, but genuinely bad movies. oppenheimer is a little less bad than dune, but certainly the worst of the nolan movies I have seen. in no way did it live up to the expectations I had formed for a movie about that topic that was supposedly great according to hype. I really need to stop believing movie hype, so much of it is entirely undeserved. an earlier example I recall was black panther, but that was an ok movie, it wasn't a bad one like dune and oppenheimer. it's like hyping up the hobbit vs. hyping up rings of power.

[@SEAZNDragon]

I think the business part of show business is ruining movies. Use to be a studio would be hesitant to be outside the box or "experiment" and stick to a trope heavy script for profit. Now it either basing movies and shows on increasingly obscured characters to justify using a piece of intellectual property a la Marvel. Or wasting months if not years of work by actors, writers, and film crews to not release perfectly good movies to get a tax write off instead of you know showing it to make money a al DC/Warner Brothers.

[@jesseowenvillamor6348]

Nah everyone should love superhero movies.

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

@@jesseowenvillamor6348 I'm gonna go with sarcasm on that one

[@jesseowenvillamor6348]

@@Ass_of_Amalek No. Everyone should love superhero movies

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

@@jesseowenvillamor6348 that's still sarcasm.

[@Perdi-wr1zc]

Watch past lives n anatomy of a fall

[@parisulki729]

Did we get to the point where somewhat competently written movie is now admirable? Personally i thought the movie was pretty decent, and directors shouldn't stop there and make even better movies

[@SteveDave211]

Would say Start Wars started the big flashy marketable movies as it was more than a movie its was a financial power house with merch and ticket sales and a show,. Heavens Gate and Martín Scorsese New York New York flops hurt directors being in charge of the 70era yet now theirs more movies (Like everything else) and fans have more option unlike back than. Why go see movie on big screen and spend more money than on my 65inchg smart tv. Theirs not one Scorsese movie that being on teh theaters is any differently on a TV screen. Superhero are a big event most of the time yet now movies also gonna be free on a stream app so many fans will sometimes wait unless its GOG Three which was gonna be the last and must be see. I bet in the 70 and 80s their were old fans saying how movie in their day was better. Like music and everything else just just too many superhero movies like too many westerns or in the 90s with those indie Clerk type movies. Movie industry will recalibrate yet streaming was always gonna eat theaters which we predicted back years ago. Even Barbie and Oppenheimer had a social phenomenon that help. Its harder to get fans to the screen which is harder than any of these old directors had to deal with and theirs as many good movie as before yet its how we see it. Many fans hate gangster movies like Tarantino or Scorsese so are they classic for sure? Lets be honest most classics are based off of books and arent original anyways. Better books are needed I guess..

[@SplinterInYourEye]

My only issue with the be Godzilla, was the melodramatic acting. Knowing how stoic the Japanese people actually are, it felt disingenuous. It felt like I was watching actors trying to mimic the emotions of characters from anime.

[@imahoare4742]

It's pretty standard if you watch a lot of Asian cinema or tv. Melodrama is their bread and butter and quite frankly, they've nearly perfected the art both in live action and animation.

[@riffgroove]

I've met plenty of "animated" Japanese people. Maybe you shouldn't stereotype.

[@creativewriter2023]

Stoic? Not my Japanese family. That's some stereotyping there.

[@riffgroove]

This movies BIGGEST asset was it's coherent script. Understanding the characters and caring about them was a bonus. That being said, I really disagree that "Whiplash" was a "masterpiece." It most definitely was not. It's worth watching for JK Simmons' performance. The rest of the film has some major problems. Most of all being the fact that Newman is a plain unlikeable character from the beginning of the film to the end of it. The fact that Simmon's character is even MORE of an a**hole doesn't do anything to change this fact. He's an a**hole to his family, he's an a**hole to everyone else in the orchestra, and he is an insufferable a**hole to his girlfriend. And there are some gigantic plot-holes in the film that make ZERO sense.

[@mightydegu]

I completely disagree about King of Monsters having superior special effects compared to Godzilla Minus One. It has more effects. They are in no way better. I'd go as far as to say King of Monsters had much worse effects. Never in that shit show of a movie (easily the worst Monsterverse movie and easily the worst American Godzilla movie ever) do the effects look at all real, they merely look plentiful.

[@tikhongilson3770]

Minus One has the blue-white glow of Cerenkov radiation, very accurate. Not purple as in Shin Godzilla.

[@ericmatthews8497]

Oh come on... The Godzilla Special FX in the Minus One are completely inconsistent...

[@kakkoishonen]

Marvel and the MCU destroyed real cinema ...

[@ericmatthews8497]

Ugh... Just Stop. That's not true.

[@yahu5988]

this is nonsense we want big fights and experiemntal alien creative ideas when we watch a godzilla movie we want GODZILLA not some human interaction if we want that we watch a drama movie

[@justinklenk]

What a horrible take. At least I know to unsubscribe. Quality ABSOLUTELY matters in art and cinema.

[@SEAZNDragon]

He's not arguing quality doesn't matter but how "quality" is defined. If anything he's arguing for more back to basic storytelling. Look at the Marvel example: they went from having well rounded characters in straightforward plots to now needing to watching movies X1-X3, TV Y, to understand a streaming series based on minor character Z.

[@justinklenk]

@@SEAZNDragon While I understand your point (and thank you), I can't actually go as far as to _appreciate_ your point - because truly, ALL these superhero/marvel movies are the absolute epitome of bland, inane trash. (With the exception of Deadpool and the Nolan batman movies, which are all so completely and utterly different, as to be considered almost a different genre: "WELL-done films" - they actually made an art _(art_ being defined as _anything done WELL)_ out of the production means and the creative means available to them. Something truly worth being appreciated, ranging anywhere from "actually worth spending your time seeing" to "REALLY worth spending your time seeing, quite likely multiple times.") They are truly trite, CGI-wielding, talent-devoid, masturbatory shitshows meant to gorge on money from capitalizing on the endlessly-renewed stupidity and fundamental lack of taste of a dumbed-down, quality-shunning public. Ultimately, it exposes an artistically-cynical aspect of our group culture for what it is.

[@jesseowenvillamor6348]

​@@justinklenkNah. Not true. Love superhero movies.

[@justinklenk]

@@jesseowenvillamor6348 To each their own, man 👍.

[@jesseowenvillamor6348]

@@justinklenk No, no. Don't give me that. Everyone should love superhero movies.

[@thisisfuckenstupid]

Isn't that part of the point of Babylon? Virtually every character is a horrible person and the one guy you're rooting for in the beginning slowly grows to be as horrible as everyone else? Idk, that's what I got from it. I only watched it once.